WEEK AT THE HOSPITAL

So Brandon will be studying all night so I thought this would be a good night to write about our last month, crazy! People know I was sick but not so many know details so I thought I'd share. So 4 weeks ago Tuesday I woke up having excruciating pain in my upper abd and my back. I was also vomiting and couldn't eat. So that night I gave in and went to the ER, STUPID. I was there 7 hours by myself in a crazy busy hospital. People were laying everywhere, there were more people in the halls than in the rooms. I was crying practically the last 2 hours. You know it's bad when other patients are checking on you. Anyways they sent me home with pain pills. Slowly I started getting better, then on Sunday morning I crashed. I didn't sleep all night. I woke up bawling, couldn't stop pacing and even having a drink of water made me throw up. At that point Brandon was nervous and wouldn't leave me to go to church. I tried to sleep for 2 hours after taking 2 heavy narcotics but the pain wouldn't stop. Finally we went to L&D. And the fun begins. After 4 hours they decide to admit me. My labs were normal but the pain was not and my blood pressure was through the roof. Because I was pregnant there was no way they'd let me go home. So little did I know I would be in the hospital the next 7 days. They transfered me from the High Risk Antepartum floor to the recovery room in L&D. Several times my BP got so high they'd rush me to Labor and Delivery where i could have 1 on 1 care. That made me nervous because being a nurse I know when they do stuff like that they aren't messing around and are nervous. Well luckily the first 5 out of7 days I was very sedated with heavy narcartics. They were probably running anywhere between 10-15 labs a day, doing CAT scans, x-rays, sonograms of my abd, and an upper endoscopy which was absolutely miserable. Other than that I'd sleep, wake up vomit all the acid in my stomach, rip out all the tubes in my arms and waddle to the bathroom. That's all i did everyday, oh and count the minutes until I could have pain meds again.


I saw probably 20 physicians a day. My OB told me that probably every team of physicians in this hospital was on my case. I saw the OBs. the medical docs, the GI docs and the surgeons. One intern told me I had the best surgeon in this hospital stumped. Gosh that was reassuring. Okay we're almost done. Day 5 i woke up and by abd was huge. I looked 10 months pregnant and you could not see my belly button. I was so swollen. I hadn't eaten for 6 days and had gained 15 lbs. They did an xray which was pretty inconclusive. The surgeon said he and the radiologist looked at it for an hour. There was an obstruction and my bowels were stretched pretty thin. They didn't know what the obstruction was due to though. After that they did 3 enemas. Not to be gross but it was the most miserble, painful thing i have ever done. Fortunately after this I slowly got better. They discharged me on Sunday and at this point my mother had arrived which was the best thing that could have happened to me. I returned to L&D 2 days later due to more excruciating pain. I remember sitting on the bed on the phone with my dad bawling saying, "I can't handle this pain 1 more day." He assured me I wouldn't receive more than I could handle. It was amazing because the next day the pain was gone. I felt wonderful physically but then crashed emotionally. Poor Brandon and my mom. I found out that I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. It's pretty much an allergy to gluten, the protein in wheat, rye, barley, and oats. It has been an adjustment. I got home and truly there was nothing in my house I could eat, and I hadn't eaten for 7 days. I was starving. My mom came to the rescue and dragged me around NY finding foods I could eat. It has been hard but people go through so much worse and I'm glad this is something I can treat. It will be a learning process. Plus it is unknown to me how, but somehow this baby of ours survived this nightmare. He is definitely a survivor and meant for our family. I just want to thank friends and family for the flowers, cards, phone calls, prayers, and fasting. It truly saved us. I cried after every message I listened to on my phone. I was seriously so touched by how many people care. So anyways that was our October. Brandon is still struggling to catch up in school, but we've been blessed so far, I know he'll be okay.